My latest work has been an new style for me, but and old subject. Power has honestly always scared me and I feel the need in my life to again explore it again. I went to some classic sources in my life. A book named The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, the Norse myths, which shaped my imagination from the time that I heard about them, and in a classic fashion the Thesaurus. Words have power, with out doubt. Then of course the Fluer-de-lis. It has represented royal power and persists as a symbol in a powerful way even though it is shrouded in controversy of origin, representation and initial usage. I also included the Reiki symbol for power because of special feeling for the idea of the positive energy it represents adn the inclusion of the swirl.

The style was heavily influenced by a book called Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed-Media Artistsby Ann Baldwin. I bought other books and cut pieces out, I printed out things from the web, I translated things for aesthetics before using them and found ways to incorporate them into this piece. I also originally intended there to be a representation of money as well, but it didn’t feel right by the time came to lay it down. I learned quite a bit during this project, but more importantly than that was the expansion in both my belief in my own abilities and in my imagination. The piece went through a progression that looked a lot like this:

Layout

48 Laws of Power in Yiddish, Reikipower symbol, Odin’s Horns and paint

Power from a Thesaurus in yellow and fleur de lis

Edge covering in textured teal

Runes, Aleph, Tav, tissue, some interference blue and gloss gel glazing. Then I had to repaint the Fleur to get it out front again.

Viola!Power.

A 24″x 24″ mixed-media piece on gallery wrapped canvas. That process took days, but other than Night Bridge it’s my favorite piece so far. I love being able to use symbols and words with the textures to achieve a many faceted expression of a single idea. Having physical layers and depth has been great. I’m thinking about moving to some small pieces for a little bit, but I’m excited to come back to something like this again soon.

We need Power, but Power is no friend. It has its own agenda and if you do not win against it, though you have all the power in the world, in the end Power will instead have you.

Wide awake, with fear, respect and absolute assurance,

~B~

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